Chronological

Chapter 24

^1 [a]During his reign Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. He then changed his path and rebelled against him.

² The Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites against him. They attacked Judah to destroy it, fulfilling the word of the Lord which he had spoken through his servants, the prophets. ³ This surely came upon Judah at the command of the Lord so that he might remove them from out of his sight on account of the sins of Manasseh and everything that he had done ⁴ and on account of the innocent blood that he had shed, for he covered Jerusalem with innocent blood, something that the Lord would not forgive.

⁵ As for the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim, all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁶ Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to him all the way from the River of Egypt up to the Euphrates River.

Reign of Jehoiachin.^{[b] 8} Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.

⁹ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that his fathers had done. ¹⁰ During his reign, the servants of Nebu-chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up to Jerusalem and the city was besieged. ¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem while his servants were besieging it.

¹² Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officials. The king of Babylon carried him off during the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ He carried off all of the treasures from the temple of the Lord and the treasures from the royal palace. He cut to pieces all of the gold vessels that Solomon, the king of Israel, had made for the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had foretold. ¹⁴ He carried away all of Jerusalem and all of its princes and all of its brave warriors. There were ten thousand captives, and no craftsmen or iron smiths remained, only the poorest of the people were left. ¹⁵ He carried Jehoiachin off to Babylon along with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the important people of the land. He carried them off into captivity in Babylon. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon brought them into captivity, all of the important people, seven thousand of them, and the craftsmen and iron smiths, one thousand of them, and all of those who were strong and ready for war.

¹⁷ The king of Babylon made Mattaniah king in his father’s stead, and he changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Reign of Zedekiah.^[c] Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

¹⁹ He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, everything that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ This happened to Jerusalem and Judah on account of the anger of the Lord, and he cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah then rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

¹ It was during the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and all his army came up against Jerusalem. He camped and made siege-works all around it.^{[d] 2} The city was under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe that there was no food left for the people of the land.

⁴ There was a breach in the city wall, and all of the warriors fled at night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They went toward the Arabah.

⁵ The Chaldean army chased after them and caught up with the king in the plains of Jericho, scattering his entire army. ⁶ They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon who was at Riblah where he pronounced his judgment. ⁷ They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and then they put out his eyes, bound him in brass fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.

Destruction of Jerusalem. ⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of the ninth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and a servant of the king of Babylon, came up to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, all of the buildings of Jerusalem. He burned down every large building. ¹⁰ All of the Chaldean army that was with the captain of the guard broke down all of the walls surrounding Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried off the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.

¹² But the captain of the guard left the poorest of the people who were to be vinedressers and herdsmen.

¹³ The Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars in the temple of the Lord and the bronze sea and its base in the temple of the Lord. They carried the bronze off to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all of the bronze vessels that were used for ministry there. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard also took away the censers and the bowls, and everything that was made with gold or silver. ¹⁶ One could not even measure the weight of the bronze from all these things: the two pillars, the sea, and its base that were made by Solomon for the temple of the Lord. ¹⁷ Each bronze pillar with its capital was eighteen cubits tall. The capital was three cubits high, along with a bronze network and pomegranates upon the capital. The other pillar was identical with its network.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took away Seraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, the second priest, as well as three of the doormen. ¹⁹ He also took the officer who was in charge of the fighting men out of the city as well as five of the king’s advisors who were caught in the city. He took the scribe assigned to the leader of the army, the one who would muster the people of the land. He also took sixty of the people of the land who were found in the city.

²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon struck them down and killed them in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus, Judah was carried away from their land into exile.

²² Gedaliah Governs Judah.^[e] As for the rest of the people who had remained in the land of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over them.

²³ When all of the captains of the army (they and their men) heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah in Mizpah. They were Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, Johanan, the son of Kareah, Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah, the son of the Maachathite, and their men.

²⁴ Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, saying to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and everything will be all right with you.”

²⁵ But during the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah. He died along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him in Mizpah.

²⁶ All of the people then rose up, the small and the great, and the captains of the army, and they went to Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ Jehoiachin’s Release from Prison.^[f] In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach who had become king that year, released Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and he set him upon his throne which was above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ He changed his prison clothes, and he ate his meals with him for the rest of his life. ³⁰ He was given a regular allowance from the king, a portion for each day of the rest of his life.

The End of the Kingdom

Chapter 36^[a]

Jehoahaz. ¹ The people of the land then took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem as the successor to his father. ² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. ³ Then Neco, the king of Egypt, deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a levy on Judah of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. ⁴ Following that, the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim, but Neco took his brother Jehoahaz and had him brought to Egypt.

Jehoiakim. ⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. ⁶ Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, then attacked him and bound him with chains to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also carried away to Babylon some of the vessels of the house of the Lord and placed them in his palace in Babylon.

⁸ The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the detestable things that he did, and what happened to him as a consequence, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin succeeded him.

Jehoiachin. ⁹ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months and ten days. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰ At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and had him brought to Babylon, along with the most precious vessels that were in the temple of the Lord, and he appointed his brother Zedekiah as king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and he did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who revealed the word of the Lord.

¹³ Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had compelled him to take an oath in God’s name. He became stubborn and obstinate, and he refused to return to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people became ever more unfaithful, imitating all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord which he himself had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, unceasingly sent them word through his messengers because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ However, they continued to ridicule the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so fierce that there was no remedy.

¹⁷ Therefore, the Lord God brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the sanctuary and spared neither young man nor maiden, neither the aged nor the feeble. God gave them all into his power.

¹⁸ All the vessels of the house of God, both large and small and all the treasures of the Lord’s house and of the king and his princes—all these Nebuchadnezzar brought to Babylon. ¹⁹ They set fire to the house of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces to the ground along with its cherished possessions until everything there of value was destroyed.

²⁰ In addition, Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon all those who had escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the Persians came to power. ²¹ During the time that the land lay desolate, it enjoyed its Sabbath rests to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has atoned for its lost Sabbaths, it will lie fallow until seventy years are fulfilled.”

²² Decree of Cyrus.^[b] In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired King Cyrus to issue this edict throughout his kingdom, announced by a herald and also stated in a written edict: ²³ “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has also appointed me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, whoever among you belongs to his people, may the Lord, his God be with him. Let him go up!”